Map of Games

Date of Initial Inception

June 2013
Author of this Document
Kasey Harris

TEAM:
Benjamin Pope
Byron Forrester
Vijay Vanness
Jameson Smith

Technical Field
This project involves the technical fields of art, web design, and web development.

Background Information
This project was inspired by a similar concept from the website Map of Metal. Using roadmaplike visuals, Map of Metal marked the history of heavy metal music using several generalized
icons categorized in tiers and linked together by paths or roads. The entire map is fixed on
what appears to be a continent and all icons are clickable links with descriptions of the music as
well as music samples. The map also has several levels of zoom much like Google Maps where
the largest icons were most visible and zooming in leads to the smallest sub genres of music. The
icons, however, are largely generalized and non-differential towards any particular genre of
metal.

Prior Art
Prior art used in this project includes the textures used for the 2000s section is from Google and
the 1950s section of the map is courtesy of Bing (See Appendix). The map landmass was pulled
from Game of Thrones Westeros and Easteros courtesy of Bing (See Appendix).

Project Description
This project is for the use as an educational application to teach users the history of video
through the use of a visually interactive world map experience. Users will be able to browse
specific genres of games divided into helpful icons that will link them and other users to
descriptions and examples of games which will enhance the educational and social aspect of the
application. The app will avoid walls of text and rather replace encyclopedic indexes with art that

pays homage to the some of the earliest games. The app is intended for game students and
developers but also for those who are interested in where their favorite games originated from.

Innovation Claim
This project is innovative because it uses a unique art style that not only reflects the different
video game genres but also the age of genres as one historically progresses through the sites
map

Usage Scenario
This application will typically be used for educational purposes likely by students who are
researching particular genres or games for their own projects. However, this app can also be used
for general purposes by the public as a resource much like Wikipedia. It will also act as a forum
which links users to other games and opinions which turns this educational app into a social
media gathering online where people can meet and talk about games. While people can find
games for reference, they can also be led to new games theyve never heard of through
conversation and browsing.

Evaluation Criteria
The following questions will identify the successful completion of the project:
1. Have all genres been listed and compiled with definitions/examples of games?
2. Have all icons for all three tiers been completed and polished?
3. Has the host site been purchased?
4. Is the map integrated into the site?
5. Are the icons integrated into the site?
6. Are the genre descriptions and examples integrated into the site?
7. Does the map navigation function properly?
8. Are the icons clickable with displayable information?
9. Are the forums working in terms of posting ability and networking?

Objectives and Tasks Associated with the Project

1. Create team
1.1 Recruit 2-3 artists variable
1.2 Recruit 2 programmers preferably skilled in web coding

1.3 Recruit web designer

1.4 Recruit sound technician
1.5 Hold regular meetings with team via weekly basis on Fridays following UAT Shell
Schedule
2. Develop map, genres, and icons.
2.1 Create list of genres through research online Genres separate into three tiers:
primary, secondary, and tertiary.
2.2 Develop map using programs available at school Use Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator,
and Microsoft Paint.
2.3 Plan icon tiers and color palette Icons follow tier structure in design as well as
color.
2.4 Create tutorials on icons Kasey Harris will make the tutorials and mentor the icon
creating process.
2.5 Create icons by weekly basis Meetings will be held per week on Fridays.
2.6 Polish map and icons in group meeting Kasey Harris will be making final decisions
on finished icons.
3. Set up website online with assets.
3.1 Finalize map, genres, and icons Kasey Harris and Benjamin Pope will finalize all
assets.
3.2 Give assets to web designer
3.3 Purchase host site
3.4 Hold meetings with designer to aid in site Meetings will be held with Jameson
Smith.

Description of Design Prototype

The design prototype will be a website application that can be entered via a web address on a
Windows 7 OS with Java programming. This site will have a zoom feature that will allow the
user to view the whole map as well as zoom in to see the smallest icons and text. The map will
be dotted in icons, all ranging from three sizes, large 200x200 px, 100x100 px, and 50x50 px.
The icons will be clickable which will then pull up a brief description of the video game genre it
is representing. The description will also have a link to the forums where users will be able to
post their thoughts on games as well as read and respond to others. The prototype will contain
the icons and genres that have been created so far and will be a work in progress towards
completing all game genre entries.

Evaluation Plan
This project will be evaluated using the questions provided in the Evaluation Criteria section.
Firstly, as the project is still a work in progress, the assets in need of completion will be worked
on according to schedule and evaluated according to whether or not they are polished and
immediately ready for web application. Genre definitions will be continuously produced and
evaluated if they are also ready to be applied to the site. The project will be put through an alpha
stage where the site will be first tested for functionality as well as display quality and links. As
the alpha is being tested, the project will take in feedback as well as notes from user usage. This
feedback will be applied to fix problems, polish assets, and reapply to the alpha. Further
evaluations will be conducted how much information is available for user viewing as well as
whether or not the forums are working and linkable to the genres. Once alpha tests are successful
in finding issues, bugs, and other fixes, said problems will then be resolved. The final version of
the site will have all assets implemented ready for user use. Any placeholder art and text will be
replaced and again tested for functionality.

*Project Completion Assessment

Provide an in-depth description of the completion assessment of your project. Describe how well
the completed components function and highlight the innovative facets of your design. This is
sometimes known as a Post-Mortem or Lessons-Learned Report. A good approach for this
section is to answer the following 4 questions: What went right? What went wrong? What was
learned throughout the process? What would be done differently if you had to do it again?
As of the final version of the project, the site has total functionality as well being user friendly.
The map and icons show up clearly when viewed which was a concern in the initial alpha phase.
The innovative graphics and teaching capabilities of the encyclopedic site work as intended and
present the user with a slew of information that not only is more interesting that a wall of text but
also integrate the history of video games through the visuals. The visuals are one of the more
important features we hoped to implement and they appear to work as intended in an organized
manner. Further testing will be needed once the forums start filling up with user created content
to evaluate how monitoring the forums will occur, either through hired/volunteering moderators
or bots. What went right largely was the alpha state of the site which began filling up quickly
with all of our completed assets with the help of a third party web developer. Furthermore,
creating the assets was relatively easy if a bit slow though that is due to the few amount of team
members we have as well as the learning process. In the beginning, much of what went wrong
was the integration of the assets into a different website format that simply didnt work with our
map or our planned features. We learned quickly that this project requires professional help to
which we found a web developer company. The team also learned how to create pixel art in a
manner that would display the type of information we wanted in a small, compact format that
would represent games. I acted as the mentor and learned the limits and constraints of what we

were creating. If we were to do it again, I would take more time to better teach the art techniques
required to make the art so that it would be easier to make without wasting time to go back and
make fixes. Also, we would immediately go to a professional web developer long before we
finished all the assets so that integration could start at an earlier date.

Appendices
Appendix A: Map of Games Design Document MapofGamesDesignDocumentVersion1.2.docx
Appendix B: Map of Games Genre Definitions
MapofGameGenreDefinitionsEdit3Newest.docx
Appendix C: Map of Games Asset List Map of Games Asset List.docx
Appendix D: Map of Game Test Plan MapofGameTestPlat.docx
Appendix E: Game of Thrones Map http://www.bing.com/images/search?
q=Game+of+Thrones+World+Map&Form=IQFRDR
Appendix F: 2000s Section of Map - http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=public%20domain
%20apocalypse%20images&qs=n&form=QBIR&pq=public%20domain%20apocalypse
%20images&sc=0-21&sp=-1&sk=
Appendix G: Primary Icons (Kasey) Primary Icons.zip
Appendix H: Secondary Icons (Kasey) Secondary Icons.zip
Appendix I: Tertiary Icons (Kasey) Tertiary Icons.zip
Appendix J: Map of Games Web Banner Banner.png
Appendix K: Map of Games Map upgrade map11.pdf